PRISONERS convicted of murder and rape can be banned from voting, EU judges said yesterday – but critics warned that those responsible for less serious crimes may escape the ruling.

Prisoners who have committed serious crimes can still be deprived of the vote

In a judgment with implications for Britain’s blanket ban on inmates casting a ballot, the European Court of Justice turned down a claim by a killer demanding the right to vote.

It upheld a law in France that led to a murderer being banned for life.

He claimed that the ban was a breach of the EU’s charter of fundamental rights but the judges said it was proportionate given the gravity of his crime.

Whitehall officials last night said it means that the 145-year-old British law denying prisoners the franchise has been upheld.

Eurosceptics said the decision could still allow those convicted of less serious offences getting the vote.

It led to fresh calls to quit the EU to stop the Luxembourg- based court meddling in UK law.

A UK Government spokesman said: “The European Court has confirmed French restrictions on prisoner voting are lawful. The UK’s ban on prisoner voting stays in place and remains a matter for the UK Supreme Court and Parliament.”

Speaking shortly before the judgment was announced, David Cameron yesterday insisted the ban would stay.

He told LBC Radio: “Our Supreme Court opined that our law was right and prisoners shouldn’t have the vote and that’s my view. I’m very clear – prisoners shouldn’t get the vote and it’s a matter for the British Parliament.”

But Eurosceptic campaigners said the ruling confirmed that the issue of prisoner voting was in the hands of European judges. Robert Oxley of the Eurosceptic Business for Britain, said: “The European Court of Justice is using the charter of fundamental rights to give itself the power to decide on almost anything that it wants.

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Dartmoor prison, where many serious offenders are imprisoned

“Today it is prisoner voting but there is no limit to what the ECJ can now decide is within its power.”

Britain is defying a ruling by the Court of Human Rights that the ban – from the 1870 Forfeiture Act depriving convicts of their citizenship – must be dropped.

Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary and Liechtenstein also deny prisoners the right to vote.